300,000 Attempts from British Parliament to Access Porn Sites in 2012

Data released based on a Freedom of Information request disclosed that over 300,000 attempts were made in 2012 from the British Parliament, particularly the House of Commons, to access pornographic Web sites.

But the report did not specify if the attempt to access the porn sites were made by MPs, their peers or other parliamentary staff. The parliament has about 5,000 people working on the site.

House of Commons officials questioned the accuracy of the data. They pointed out that some of the hits could have been registered by Web sites that generate several views on a single visit or automatically links to other portals through pop-ups which could be porn sites.

The report did not point to any MP directly involved in accessing the lewd sites, but in the past some MPs had been involved in sex scandals.

In August 2013, Ethics Committee Chairman Peter Dowling stepped aside over a sexting scandal that allegedly happened when he and his mistress were photographed while on vacation overseas.

In October 12, Labour MP Tom Watson told the House of Commons that a key member of a powerful child sex ring with links to Downing Street is a senior aide to a former prime minister. The senior aide allegedly could smuggle indecent images of children from abroad.